Watch the'Veronica Mars' movie opening scene

MAKING the leap from TV to cinema this month is cult success Veronica Mars, whose opening scene acts as an ideal primer for newcomers to the phenomenon.

Teenager turned private investigator Veronica (played by Kristen Bell) leads us through her high school career as a supersleuth in training, sometime partner of her dead best friend’s boyfriend,

and daughter of the least popular man in town – the sheriff.

As a TV series, Veronica Mars followed its heroine’s path into college life, garnering critical praise throughout its 2004-07 three-season run and an enthusiastic online following.

Despite that, viewer numbers of around 2.5 million per episode looked pallid in comparison to network blockbusters of the time like Desparate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost and House, leading to the series’ eventual cancellation.

But Bell’s since starred in Forgetting Sarah Mashall and Disney’s Frozen, writer-creator Rob Thomas developed Party Down and the relaunched 90210, and fans of Veronica Mars backed a film adaptation to the tune of US$5.7mil (RM18.7mil) during the project’s March 2013 fundraising period.

In the intervening period, Bell’s character Mars has gone to law school and become a big shot city slicker; the March 14 film has her return to Neptune, Florida, in order to clear the name of her dark horse ex, Logan. – AFP Relaxnews